A suit brought by tobacco companies challenging new regulations which require them to display large, graphic warnings on cigarette packages will not be heard by the Supreme Court, reports The Hill.

The companies dispute the legality of a 2009 tobacco law, demanding that half of every pack of cigarettes is covered with an image and government-approved text warning of the deleterious health effects of tobacco use.

Don’t expect to see the new labels just yet. An appeals court previously blocked the labeling effort and that decision still stands, according to the U.S. News and World Report. According to the ruling, the FDA must prove that such a labeling effort will correlate with reduced smoking rates

MANILA, Philippines—It would seem that electronic cigarettes, which is being promoted as a healthier substitute for tobacco, may just be as harmful as the real thing.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday warned the public against e-cigarettes, saying they cannot be considered legitimate therapy for smokers to quit and that they could turn children into smokers.

E-cigarettes have been gaining favor among Filipinos as higher tobacco taxes make smoking more expensive.

Although the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes are unknown, a new survey finds people who use the devices think of them as a safer alternative to tobacco and a means to break the smoking habit.

Researchers from the UK surveyed about 1,400 e-cigarette users on the Internet, 76 percent of whom said they started using their devices to replace cigarettes entirely. A much smaller percentage said their goal was to quit smoking or to improve their health.

One researcher who has studied e-cigarette users said the findings allay fears that people are using the devices to get more nicotine on top of what’s already in tobacco cigarettes, instead of for smoking cessation.